Letters To The Editor

I am a retired Caucasian O.R. registered nurse. I have a few words in regard to the birth of the baby of a white supremacist (July 15 Jim Spencer column): Pity the poor child.

This baby will never be taught the dignity of life, never to know the blessings and joy of friendship and fellowship with others of diverse backgrounds, never to learn tolerance of cultures other than the perverted one of hatred, disrespect and abuse.

This child is doomed from the very beginning to follow in the footsteps of its very ignorant parents. There is no weapon to fight ignorance, except education. It is apparent this father is beyond education.

When one refuses to see the value of another human, there is no hope for change. It is a mindless person that cannot and will not realize that a person's worth is not in the color of skin, or in the things they possess, but in the contributions to life and the benefits of this life to others. Pity the poor child.

Doctors and nurses do not get to choose the patients they treat. They are not there for a certain segment of society, no matter whether one pays their bill or not.

If you arrive at a hospital needing emergency care, you do not have the right to demand anything, much less the race of those whose specific purpose in being there is to help you. Skin color has nothing to do with your choice at any time in emergencies and rightfully so. You come seeking medical help; they do not go seeking you.

C.I. Watkins

Newport News

Doberman's status

So it has happened again in Hampton Roads. Another animal abuser has been acquitted and has the right to get his dog back ("Grove man not guilty of animal cruelty: Vet 'disgusted,' but Doberman will be returned" Daily Press, July 13).

Like the poor dogs belonging to the Surry man accused of operating an illegal training and dog-fighting facility, Brutus will be returned to his abuser, George Buskey.

Although Judge J.R. Zepkin expressed "some discomfort" with his ruling, he ruled to acquit, saying the evidence was not strong enough to convict Buskey.

Severe weight loss, health problems and infection, concerned neighbors, not to mention a previous run-in with the law over the dog's condition were not enough for a conviction?

I guess Zepkin would have rather had a dead corpse instead of a walking one.

Dawn Garrett

Williamsburg

On-the-job Spirituality

Reference the July 16 Bonnie Erbe column, "Is spirituality at work good?"

In defense of all those spirit-crazed Christians out there that sit around the lunch table and pray: I'm one of them.

This is not a craze. The pet rock was a craze and Cabbage Patch Kids were a craze. Spirituality is not a craze; it's reality.

This movement, as Erbe so kindly put it, has been around for a lot longer than 40 years. If you read the Bible, this has been going on for as long as man has been on earth.

Out founding fathers left England because of the very reason Christians today are having problems praying in public places, displaying the Ten Commandments or even displaying a few statues of the birth of our God during what most people now call "Xmas" -- like we can "x" out anything anyway.

Can you imagine what corporate America would become if people worked less, slowed down and stopped multitasking and prayed more in the name of our Lord?

William Klein

Virginia Beach

Enjoying 'baby years'

Allison Freehling's July 10 article, "Reality of new motherhood nothing like Hallmark," on the woes of new motherhood represented the worst of the "whiny baby" syndrome that seems so prevalent these days. How distressing to read how miserable an experience it is to be the new mother of a healthy baby -- from not being able to wear her jeans home from the hospital to the dirty diapers and crying baby causing no end of angst.

I would like young women who have not had the experience of a new baby to know that there is another side to the story.

I had two babies within 16 months of each other, had wonderful natural childbirth without pain medication, loved nursing my babies and yes, I even wore my jeans home from the hospital.

My husband and I reveled in our new parenthood and despite the inevitable fatigue accompanying two children so close together, we thoroughly enjoyed those "baby years."

I found it so interesting that this self-pitying article was in your paper the same week as the article about the family whose three children were dying of Duchenne's Syndrome.

Maybe mothers who spend time fretting over their tough lot in life should take a look at just how lucky they are.

Sharon S. Paulson

Newport News

Justice off-balance?

From articles on your July 14 Web site: Two men were sentenced to 20 years for murder, yet another man was sentenced to 45 years for molesting his girlfriend's 9- year-old son.

From this are we to conclude that murder is less than half as serious as molesting a child?

Furthermore, in one of the two cases in which a man was sentenced to 20 years for murder, another man was sentenced to 50 years for the same murder.